The Fall of Tokugawa
by pastel-sea-creature
Summary: The Tokugawa era comes to an end when western nations discover Japan with the lyrics to Centuries by Fall Out Boy.


Some legends are told  
Some turn to dust or to gold  
But you'll remember me  
Remember me for centuries

The year was 1543, the whole of Japan was at war. A blue robed samurai stood watching on Tanegashima Bay as upright and regal as a statue with one hand on his katana. There was no movement except the occasional blink of his mysterious deep brown eyes and the flutter of his robes and raven black hair in the wind. Suddenly, a Chinese junk slowly emerged from the mist, like a colossal ghost of a ship. The ship landed on the shore and three strange men walked onto the beach, they spoke a foreign language and wore strange clothes. The blue robed samurai quickly ran back to Edo castle to report what he had seen. When he reached the castle, he told the other samurai, who told the shogun. Then he ran to a grand room of the castle where a girl in a pink kimono kneeled at a short table drinking tea.  
"Edo! I saw something strange on the shore of Tanegashima!"  
The girl calmly set down her cup of tea and turned toward the samurai. "What did you see, Japan? You look shaken."  
"A Chinese junk landed on the shore carrying three strange men, I'm not sure if they are a threat but we should be cautious."

Just one mistake  
Is all it will take  
We'll go down in history  
Remember me for centuries

Edo was loaded into a norimon carried by Japan and another samurai, and off they went to investigate their uninvited guests. It was another nation with two of his citizens. He was tall and lanky with long brown hair tied back in a ponytail framing his tan face and big green eyes. He slowly approached the norimon and put up one hand in a gesture of peace. "Hello, I am Portugal, I accidentally landed on your island in the backwash of a crazy tide. Who are you?"  
Japan gently lowered the norimon and gave a slight bow. "I am Japan, and this is my central city, Edo." Japan said as he opened the norimon, Edo stepped out and bowed slightly. The two nations sat and talked awhile about their different cultures and ideas, Portugal told about what the outside world was like when Japan noticed something strapped to Portugal's back.  
"I don't mean to pry." He said. "But what is that weapon you have strapped to you?"  
Portugal undid the strap and held up a long shiny tube-like object. "This is called a rifle, it allows you to attack from a distance by shooting bullets."  
Japan eyed the rifle with wonder. "How peculiar." He said.  
"I could teach you how to use it." Said Portugal. "It's not too hard and very useful."  
Portugal taught Japan how to use the strange new weapon, and soon everyone started using it. This was the start of the Nanban Trade, a period of time in which Europeans and Asians would engage in mercantilism. It was a peaceful and good time, but Edo was uneasy. She was a small girl, standing just 157 centimeters tall with long slender limbs like a spider. Her deep brown eyes were tilted at a slight angle giving her an elf-like appearance, with a tiny pointed nose just above a pair of small pink cherry blossom lips. As beautiful and flawless as a porcelain doll, free and innocent as cherry blossoms dancing through the wind, wise and mysterious as the moon. She was everything a Tokugawa princess should be, she cared deeply for her older brother, Japan, and wanted him to be safe. She approached him one day in the gardens of the castle.  
"Nihon-san, I know the trade is working well for us, but do you think we should allow these westerners into our country? We've lived in peaceful isolation for so many years, I do not think we should be as open as we are."  
Japan looked up from the koi pond and brushed his long bangs out of his face. "Edo, I know that you must be nervous, you've never met another country before. Portugal's culture seems so backwards it was quite a shock for both of us. I can only imagine how it must be for you, but there's nothing to worry about, this is a good thing for our people."  
"But will it last? How do we know Portugal can be trusted? What if more countries find us who will want to take out land away? Have you thought about what you are doing?"  
"Edo, it's ok. Portugal arrived here on accident, no one else will find us. You need to stop worrying, we went through the same thing when the new cultures of the Heian era arose. You need to learn to accept change."  
Edo sighed, seeing as she wasn't getting through she tried once more to convince him. "This is different from the Heian. That was a revolution in culture, not being visited by uninvited guests. It's nothing wrong with me, something seems very off. I sense that this visit will not be as good as you think it is."  
Edo sighed and went back to her room. Though she knew it was useless, she wanted to preserve the Tokugawa for as long as she could. Preserved in the tomb of her mind forever.

Mummified my teenage dreams  
No, it's nothing wrong with me  
The kids are all wrong, the story's all off  
Heavy metal broke my heart

The years went by and soon 1853 arrived, Japan had had two more visitors since Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands. On the eighth of July, Japan was out fishing in Edo bay. He had packed up and was heading home with his catch when four big black shapes emerged from the mist and slowly crawled toward the shore, clanking and groaning and oozing black smoke like giant mechanical monsters. Japan was frightened by the sudden appearance of these black monsters and quickly ran back to the castle to report what he had seen. He raced like the wind to Edo's room and flung open the paper sliding door revealing Edo pressing her face against the window. She turned at the sudden crash of the door and looked into Japan's wide eyes, immediately knowing what he had seen. "Oniichan! You saw them too?"  
"Hai, the black monsters. We need to defend ourselves before something happens!"  
Edo had never seen her brother so scared before, he was usually so brave and confident in every conflict thrown at him. But now he seemed so small, his shoulders were turned in, his head bowed, arms close to his small body, and his deep brown eyes were wide with fear. He never had to deal with giant mechanical monsters before, he didn't know what to do. "I knew something like this would happen." Edo whispered. "Someone else must have heard that Portugal, Spain and Netherlands found us and wanted to see for themselves, and I don't think they will be as peaceful as the others were."

Japan took a breath and straightened himself up to his full 165 centimeters. "I will defend our people from those black monsters, we can't stay hidden forever."  
Japan sent a fleet of ships to block the Black Ships from the shore and demanded that they leave. Shortly after, a messenger entered the room with a flat white object in his hand. "Nihon-san! Someone from the Black Ships gave this to me and told me to bring it to you." He handed Japan the white object. It was a white flag and a letter, Japan read the letter aloud. "It says that they will use violence if we don't let them in and agree to receive a letter from their president, and that they will vanquish us if we choose to combat."  
He agreed to receive the letter and the black ships landed at Kurihama, then built fortifications to protect Edo from any naval incursion.

The ships landed on the shore and another nation stepped out onto the shore. He was tall and pale with happy blonde hair, big blue eyes, and glasses. He stood gazing at the island of Japan with those blue eyes full of wonder and excitement. Japan and Edo watched this strange new nation from a distance unsure of what to do. "What should we do?" Said Edo. "We can't just sit here and stare at him, he'll go into the mainland eventually."  
"Let's pretend that we only speak Dutch and maybe he'll go away." Said Japan. "Good idea, I'll go tell him. " And Edo walked out onto the beach to greet the uninvited guest. They had a brief conversation and Edo ran back to Japan. "Oniichan! He said he thought we might say that so he brought a Dutch translator! What do we do now?" Japan was about to say something when he realized the new nation had followed Edo from a distance to their hiding place. "My, isn't he persistent." Thought Japan. "He just won't leave us alone, how regrettable."

Edo also noticed that they had been discovered. "Well, there isn't much we can do now. But he is a guest even if he is uninvited, we might as well show him some hospitality." She suggested, Japan nodded and they went out to greet the new nation. He was very enthusiastic and energetic and, like Portugal, seemed very backwards.

Come on, come on, and let me in  
Bruises on your thighs like my fingerprints  
And this is supposed to match  
The darkness that you felt  
I never meant for you to fix yourself  
The new nation was named America, he had come because he wanted permission to hunt the whales in the Japanese sea, as well as requesting Japan open up his country. Edo objected to the idea but Japan gave it a bit more thought. After some conversing, he realized America wasn't as bad as he thought, he liked America's way of thinking and thought that maybe he would try to learn more about the outside world. America then read from a list of demands, including opening a large port, a consulate, and treating Americans with respect or face destruction.  
The Black Ships weren't the only problem Japan and Edo were facing, there was trouble brewing in the very heart of Japan. The current government system, the Tokugawa bakufu, was failing, it was time for Japan to abandon seclusion. The Tokugawa Shogunate came to an official end on November 9th of 1867, this and the open ports America had wanted were the first steps toward westernization. Not everyone agreed on the new ideas, Edo certainly didn't, neither did the ex Shogun Yoshinobu, though he was no longer shogun he still had significant influence. The Boshin War began with the Battle of Tobi-Fushimi, Edo saw this as an opportunity and disguised herself as a samurai to fight in the ex shogun's army. Yoshinobu lost the battle and was stripped of his power. Japan found out about what Edo had done and gave her a lecture. "Edo, I know you don't like the change, but that is no excuse to go against your own country. There are other countries out there who are more advanced than I, they have better ideas on how to run a government. Change isn't always bad, you need to learn to accept it."  
"I'm only trying to protect my people."  
"From what? This is supposed to be a time of peace, a time of new and better ideas. You are never to do that again, wakarimashtaka? (Do you understand?)"  
"Hai, wakarimashita. (Yes, I understand.)"  
Nishi Amane, a bakufu student, had returned from a study in the Netherlands wrote to his Leiden professor not to expect to hear from him again. This angered a group of samurai from the Tosa Province who usually stood guard on the open port if Sakai. Edo saw this as another opportunity as she didn't approve of the open ports allowing foreigners into Japan. She disguised herself as a samurai and joined the group from Tosa in the murders of eleven French sailors. The samurai were forced to disembowel themselves in front of France himself as punishment, Japan took Edo aside for another lecture. "Why did you kill those sailors? They weren't doing anything wrong, they were sent from France to trade with us!"  
Edo pouted and looked at the ground. "They were foreigners, they don't belong here."  
"That's no excuse, Edo! You can't let your anger control you. Now go apologise to France for what you have done."  
Edo grudgingly shuffled over to France and mumbled an apology, which France reluctantly accepted. "Do you have anything more to say for yourself?" Japan asked. Edo sighed, she had a great deal more to say but decided it was best to refrain from speaking. "No, I have nothing more to say. I sincerely apologise and it will never happen again." She quickly bowed and walked out of the room. Edo reached her room, changed out of her samurai disguise back into her royal pink robes, and hung the bloodstained katana back on the wall, a symbol of her failure and regret. How could she have done such a terrible thing? She had failed in representing her city and chose to murder eleven innocent men, letting her anger get the better of her. Edo knew that the westernization was good for Japan, but it seemed so backwards to her. She wanted Japan to benefit from it and move forward, but she also wanted to keep the old traditions. She was split, if she didn't learn to accept the change she would tear herself in two. A wave of shame, regret, and confusion washed over her as she began to cry, leaving tears of red and black down her cheeks. Japan had also made his way to his room for the night. He was nervous about the westernization after living in isolation for so many years, but he was also excited about seeing what the world was like. His goal was to learn from the other countries and try their ideas for himself, and use those ideas to come up with some new ideas of his own. All those other countries had made it so far forward in the world, leaving Japan behind, but soon he would catch up to them. They say our ambitions will do us in, in the end. For you are brought into this world once by other people's choices and dreams, you are born again on your own. The two siblings sat in their rooms, separated by a thin paper wall, each staring at the clear silhouette of the other behind the wall. Moving closer until their shadows joined like two drops of water, and in that moment their thoughts joined as well. They would continue their steps toward westernization until they reach the perfect balance between their old tradition and the new ideas of the west. But they can only do this if their people support them.

And I can't stop 'til the whole world knows my name  
Cause I was only born inside my dreams  
Until you die for me, as long as there's a light, my shadow's over you.

In November, the young emperor was carried to the north to enter Edo Castle, the Restoration edict had begun by declaring an end to all administrative structures, civil court, and military shogunate. Edo was also given a new name. Japan presented her with a flag that had a white crest of the rising sun with six rays on a background of Edo purple, symbolizing her as the center of Japan. "You have done great things, imouto. People will remember you for centuries after you're gone. Your name is now Tokyo, it means eastern capitol, you are now capitol of Japan." Tokyo accepted the flag and bowed. "Domoarigato, oniichan. I will do my best to serve you as your capitol." Japan laid a hand on the top of her head. "There is a rainbow in my heart, I weep because I will miss the old traditions, but the sun shines because we have discovered better ideas that will benefit our country and you are my new capitol. You're like a cherry blossom, so beautiful but gone so soon."

Cause I am the opposite of amnesia  
And you're a cherry blossom  
You're about to bloom  
You look so pretty, but you're gone so soon

We've been here forever  
And here's the frozen proof  
I could scream forever  
We are the poisoned youth


End file.
